A cross-party committee of MPs has written to prime minister Keir Starmer to voice “deep concern” about proposed cuts to the UK’s aid budget.
Last week, Starmer announced plans to cut the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget from 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3% in order to boost defence spending by 2027.
The ODA budget was previously cut in 2021 from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI to support public finances and the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic. If Starmer’s plans go ahead, UK aid spending will reach its lowest level since 1999.
In the letter, Sarah Champion, Labour chair of the International Development Committee, said “this brutal further cut to ODA risks undermining our soft power, as well as years of progress in areas such as healthcare, education, clean water and sustainable development”.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, foreign secretary David Lammy and minister of state for development Baroness Chapman of Darlington were copied into the letter.
‘False economy that makes us less safe’
The letter says that while a rise in defence spending is “undeniably needed” and “welcomed”, “our development spend protects not only the most vulnerable across the world but also the UK’s security, not least by helping to prevent conflict in the first place”.
“Cutting ODA further to fund increased defence spending is a false economy that makes us less safe.
“The commitment to allocate 0.7% of GNI to development assistance is enshrined in legislation.
“Although it hasn’t been achieved since the reduction to 0.5% in 2021 by the previous government, this commitment has been a cornerstone of the UK’s international standing, supporting global efforts to address poverty, inequality and climate change.
Champion wrote that the cut "will have dire consequences for millions of marginalised people across the world".
‘We need clarity on the implications of this cut’
Recent research by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact shows that ODA spending within the UK has risen from £628m in 2020 to support refugees and asylum seekers to £4.3bn in 2023, representing 28% of the total aid budget.
Champion warned in the letter that if the Home Office does not “drastically reduce these costs in the next two years, the UK is set to spend just under half of its ODA budget on domestic refugee costs by 2027”.
“The impact that this will have on the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s (FCDO) ability to support its crucial humanitarian and development work is almost unfathomable.
“The department, as well as the wider development sector, desperately need clarity on the implications of this cut, so that they can try to mitigate the impacts on their vital work.”
She urged Starmer to answer several questions, including whether in-donor refugee costs from the Home Office will continue to be classified as ODA and how much control the FCDO will retain over how ODA is spent across the government.
She added that “one of the cheapest and most effective ways to prevent conflict is to address the causes of instability before they spiral into violence. That’s what international aid can do.
“In reality, cutting aid to pay for increased defence will inevitably mean spending more money on responding to conflicts rather than investing in prevention – it should never be either/or. We need both to make a stable and secure world.
“The fact that Home Office raids on the aid budget to fund refugee costs in the UK will likely continue means there’ll be precious little to actually go on keeping people safe and prosperous in their own countries.”
Related articles
